Together Till The End
by Breeze756
Summary: after the Avengers defeat Loki in Manhattan Clint and Natasha go on a mission to India to shut down a HYDRA branch there. they get captured and tortured for their names, will they both survive?
1. Chapter 1

**hey guys! this is a new story of mine! it's all written so you won't have to worry about me stopping half way through! (I apologise in advance for any spelling/grammar mistakes - spelling isn't a storing point of mine)  
recently I have become obsessed with Clintasha (Clint & Natasha ship - from Marvel Avengers) so I wrote a story! please don't kill me for the ending! :-) **

Clint slowly emerged from his nightmare filled sleep. He opened his eyes slowly wincing at the bright light in front of him.  
He blinks and tries to remember what happened. He was on a mission with Nat... Going under cover, in India, to track down a HYDRA branch.  
He was about to get into their car when Nat was attacked from behind and knocked out cold. He didn't see the attacker but after a couple of moments he rushed to Natasha's side. Then everything went black...

Where was Natasha? Natasha... Nat, Nat...

"Natasha!?" He said out loud suddenly alert. Was she ok? Was she even alive?

"So that's her name." A pleased voice commented from behind the bright light.  
Clint forced his brain to slow down a bit so he could make sense of things...  
He was in a damp dark room, the lamp in front of him was the only light. He was sitting with his hands cuffed together at his back, the cuffs attached to the wall by another chain. His feet were laid out in front of him, feet tied together by another set of cuffs.

"Who are you? Where is Natasha?!" There was no point trying to hide her name now.

"Alive." The voice wasn't very deep but still clearly male. He had a faint well disguised German accent. He is from HYDRA, Clint deduced.

Who are you?" He repeated, he had to get as much information as possible he had to find out where Nat was and he needed to get out of here but these people obviously knew how to chain him up properly, Clint had a reputation of getting out of rope with ease and these people obviously knew it and had resorted to steel chains.

"Who I am doesn't matter" he replied shortly "but you: you are the famous Hawkeye!"

Clint's mind was still racing, one question repeating over and over in his mind: where is Natasha? Where is Natasha?

Some part of his mind was asking, how does he know who I am?  
Then Clint noticed that the clothes he had been wearing as a disguise had been taken off to reveal his tight fitting Hawkeye uniform underneath.  
Only then does Clint voice the thought he has been mulling over for the past few minutes "where is Natasha?" He puts on his determined voice but is frantically thinking of Nat.

The reply was a short laugh then everything went dark again as the voice switched off the light.  
Clint strained to hear what was going on and willed his eyes to see. He heard the lamp being moved to the side and Clint wished he was able to see in this dark windowless room.

"Where is Nat?" Clint almost shouted defiantly. His eyes were just about focusing on the blank darkness ahead of him when a window of light appeared, it blinded him for a second but Clint realised he was looking through a window that gave him a view into the next cell. Clint turned his attention to what was in the cell, he saw a guard taking off night vision goggles, the light had obviously just been turned on in there. Then at the back wall of the room,tied up in the same was as he was, he saw a limp bloody figure with dark red hair.

"Natasha!" Clint exclaimed. "What have you done to her?" Clint demands fixing a cold gaze on the guard in his cell.

"Don't worry, she's alive." Clint could now see the HYDRA uniform the guard was wearing. The guard had bright blue eyes and a short brown haircut. He was tall and quite slim but strong and muscly.

Clint's head felt suddenly dizzy, he didn't know what he would do if he lost Natasha. He thought as he returned his gaze to her limp figure. "What have you done to her?" He asked evenly.

"Oh this and that! She woke up two days ago, we were able to have a little fun!" The guard replies a dangerously amused tone in his voice.

"If you've hurt her I'll-" Clint began to threaten but was cut off by a curt laugh from his guard.

"You'll what? Put one of your precious arrows through me?" He laughed again "you have been completely stripped of weapons and you are chained to a wall so how exactly are you planing to kill me?"

Clint was about to retort when he heard a groan from the other room and immediately snaps his attention back to the crumpled figure of Nat.

Clint never recalled Natasha looking so defeated, she would always hold herself tall and confident, this Natasha looked... defeated.

"Nat?" Clint called out to his partner.

"It's no use" the guard chuckled "we can see and hear her but she can't see or hear us" he spoke almost with glee

The guard put his hand to a concealed earpiece and barked some orders in German to the person at the other end of the receiver. He must have been talking to the guard in the other cell because as soon as Clint's guard took his hand away from his ear, Natasha's guard moved from the corner of the room and started towards Natasha.

Clint was filled with dread and found himself struggling with his bonds. What were they going to do with Natasha?! "What do you want?" He asked desperately, he couldn't let Natasha endure more pain, her life had been full of pain and she didn't deserve any more.  
Clint was faintly aware that he was still struggling but most of his attention was at the matter at hand.

Clint's guard paused to tell the other guard to stop "first we want Natasha's second name and then we want your name." Clint knew immediately why they wanted their names, knowing their real names would enable them to blow all their missions. They could control Natasha and Clint by threatening to release their names to the public. They would have to go into hiding, there was no telling how much damage they would do!

Clint turned to look at Natasha thinking it over. On one hand he could tell them and they would either continue to torture them until their last breath or release their names to all their enemies.  
On the other hand he could remain silent and they would continue to be tortured for the little remainder of their lives.

Clint made up his mind quickly. They needed more time so he stayed silent.

"Very well" his guard put his hand up to his ear again and spoke a single word. The man in the next cell nodded and advanced towards Natasha.

Clint surrendered to watching helplessly as his companion, who had just regained full consciousness, looked up at the guard looming before her.  
The guard drew a long sharp knife from a concealed pocket.

"Names" Clint's guard requested one more time. Clint stared at Natasha, she was holding her posture confidently and had a brave face on. But her eyes, in her eyes was fear. It may not be obvious to other people but Clint could tell, there was fear in her eyes.

Clint couldn't take his eyes off Natasha's fearful eyes, he had never seen her like that. Never seen her so afraid, Clint wondered what they had done to her.  
Clint's guard had obviously taken his silence to be a 'no' and the other guard was now crouching beside Natasha and Clint found himself struggling against his bonds once again.

The guard brought the blade perpendicular to the skin on Natasha's arm. The guard pressed down on Natasha's skin so it went roughly through half of the skin layers. The guard then drew the knife along Natasha's forearm, keeping it at a right angle to her skin so that it peeled off.

Natasha groaned loudly as she fought back screams but eventually she broke and screams started escaping her lips, blood seeping through the thinned layer of skin.

Clint watches helplessly as the guard peels away the layer of skin he had just cut off and as Natasha attempts to conceal the pain she is in.

Clint feels a stab in his heart every time he hears Natasha scream.  
But he had to keep a straight face, had to be strong. Couldn't let any emotion show or they would know his weak point.


	2. Chapter 2

**sorry this chapter is very short *blush* ENJOY!**

For what feels like forever Clint listens to Natasha suffer but eventually the screams die down and Clint looks up, he wasn't sure when he bowed his head, unable to look at Natasha any longer. He sees her guard unchain her and drag her out the door.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking her?" Clint asks fear once again making a home in his heart.

The guard merely grins and the door in his cell is opened to reveal a cut, bloody but none the less feisty Natasha. She briefly looks up into the cell and when she sees Clint, he could swear she relaxed a little. Clint then gets the first good look at her arm. The top layer of her skin was completely torn off to reveal a light pinkie under layer, blood slowly seeping out and staining the pink skin red.

Clint suppresses a gasp at her awful state. They had both been captured before but the enemies never tortured this much so soon!

"Tell us your names and we will spare her" Natasha's guard said in a German accent. Clint said nothing. "Very well" the guard threw Natasha down next to Clint and she started to make an attempt to get up but as she was in the middle of standing up Clint's guard stamped on her leg, hard. Clint heard a crunch, Natasha cried out and fell to the ground in a pile.

Clint struggled madly with his chains hurling insults and swears at them.

The guards simply smiled and walked out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**sorry again its short! **

"Nat?" Clint called out softly to her.

"Yes?" She replied through gritted teeth, remembering not to call him by his name.  
Natasha used her good arm and leg to move herself to the wall so she could sit up against it.

"Let me see your arm..." Clint requested gently. Natasha moved over closer to him and laid her injured arming his lap. After a minute or so Clint said "are you alright?"

Natasha didn't look alright. She looked like she had been shattered into a million pieces and now she was unable to get back together again. "I'm... fine" she replies shortly. Obviously in pain

"you look tired" Clint tells her.

Natasha nods in response. "Is been a long day" she adds evenly.

Slowly Natasha lowers her head into Clint's shoulder, slowly to give herself minimum pain. "We're gonna be okay" Clint reassures her.  
She closes her eyes and eventually falls asleep, blood seeping out of her arm and onto his Hawkeye uniform.

Clint stayed awake for a while sorting out his thoughts. He and Natasha had known each other for years, they were more than just companions, she was his best friend, his only real friend.  
But thinking back to when he had watched Natasha being tortured, how many times he struggled against the bonds that still chained him. He remembers calling out her name and the sharp pain he felt when she had screamed. And Clint wondered if she was more than his best friend. They had been through so much together and he cared about her a lot. He would die for her any day. Maybe we...-

Clint cut off his thought trail right there, he couldn't get emotionally involved... in anything.

Clint then lays his chin on Natasha's head and closes his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**this chapter is a bit longer! **

"Cl- Hawkeye. Hawkeye!" Natasha called to him, withdrawing him from a peaceful sleep. He hadn't slept this well in weeks, he recalled groggily, it was strange since he was in a grubby cell. "Hawkeye." Natasha called out again

"Nat?" Clint opened his eyes and blinked at the light. "What is it?"

"You were out of it, I thought they had done something to you when I was asleep..." She trailed off.

Clint nodded slowly, understanding.  
He was still wondering what they done to her to make her so afraid yesterday. He waited a few moments before he voiced his thoughts.  
"Nat?"

"Yeah?" She replied.

"In the two days, before I woke up, what did they do to you?" He asked carefully.

Natasha fell silent as if even the memory scared her. "When I woke up," she began slowly, "there was a guard waiting in the cell. He told me our situation, he wanted out names. I knew what damage it could do so I stayed silent.  
"The guard didn't seem so pleased and he threatened me, tortured me a bit, but I still didn't talk, he eventually gave up on that and said that he was going to kill you..." Natasha paused. "And see if that would persuade me to tell him our names. So he left... And didn't come back for a while. I thought... I thought you were dead..."

Clint nodded. He supposed he would be grief stricken too if he thought Natasha had been killed. He would feel defeated.

Natasha sighed "I was..." She paused as if she didn't want to say the word "scared..."

Clint was taken back. Natasha never admitted to getting scared, he wasn't even sure she got scared.

"I'm sorry" he said, "it's my fault they know your name"

"How come?" She asked inquisitively

"When I woke up..." He began "I tried to make sense of what had happened. I remembered you being attacked but the attacker disappeared so I went over to you to see if you were okay. But I must have been attacked because I was knocked out..."

He wondered if he should say the next part but Nat had told him her side of the story, it was only fair if he told his. "All I could think was: is Nat okay? I mustn't have been completely awake because I kinda just said what I was thinking and... I said your name."

Natasha was staring forward listening to see if there was any more. When she knew there wasn't, she nodded still staring forward.

"I'm sorry" he said again.

"It's fine." Natasha replied dismissively.

They were sitting as they were before they fell asleep. Side by side, shoulders touching, Natasha's arm still lay across Clint's lap. Probably not wanting to endure the pain moving it would cause.

They stayed silent for a while and Clint was about to break the silence when the doors opened, they were electrically locked Clint noted, and the two guards stepped in and hastily grabbed Natasha.

Natasha immediately started hurling swears and insults out in a different language (probably Russian Clint concluded), kicking out with her good leg and crying out when the guards kick her broken leg.

"Nat!" Clint cried after her. "If you hurt her-" he shot at the guards, holding Natasha, with as much venom as he could muster but the guards simply laughed and dragged Natasha out of the room.

Clint could still see into the other cell as the door was opened and Natasha thrown in. She tried to catch herself but she forgot about her broken leg and cried out before falling onto her injured arm, earning another cry of pain.

One of the two guards stayed in the cell with Natasha and the other came back into Clint's cell.

When the guard entered Clint glared at him heatedly. The guard simply laughed again "it's your turn today."

Great, Clint's turn to be tortured.  
Well, he thought grimly, better me than Natasha.

"This time you will both be able to see and hear each other" the guard added a slim grin spreading across his lips.

Clint looked over to Natasha in the other room. She wasn't chained this time because she had been nearly immobilised by being unable to use her right leg and arm. She had made her way over to the window and was pulling herself up onto her one good leg with the windowsill. Once she was standing they met each others eyes, Natasha's were full of determination, giving him strength, Clint tried to give the same strength to Natasha but he wasn't sure if she got it.

Clint saw Natasha's eyes flick to her right, to where Clint's guard was slowly approaching. Clint looked over just as the guard kept forward, Clint's reactions were slowed because of the chains and the guard somehow managed to get a cloth over Clint's mouth. Clint instinctively held his breath and struggled to get away from the cloth. He couldn't take a breath, couldn't...  
But his view was clouding over and he needed to take a breath. No! He couldn't he would get away from the cloth, his movements were becoming less accurate and he was beginning to lose consciousness from lack of oxygen! Must breathe- NO! You can hold it... You can...

Clint passed out and he was no longer in control of what his lungs did. His breathing returned to normal and he breathed in the sedative gas from the cloth still over his mouth.

The last thing he heard was Natasha yelling "NO!"


	5. Chapter 5

**BIG twist coming! my friend said she actually gasped at this part and throughout the next chapter! ENJOY**

When Clint came too he found himself strapped to a cold steel table with electronically controlled metal straps. He was held down by his ankles, wrists, torso and neck. From what he could see of the room he knew he was still in the same cell he had been in all this time.

"Cl... Hawkeye?" He heard Natasha's familiar voice coming from beyond the window.

"Nat?" He replied turning his head as much as he could to see her.

"You okay?" She asked tentatively.

Clint opened his mouth to reply but at that moment the doors of both their cells opened.

He heard Natasha asking her guard what they were going to do. The guard laughed and replied in a language Clint didn't understand but The look in Natasha's eyes when she turned to him again told him it wasn't anything good.

Clint still couldn't see his guard but he tried to concentrate on listening for clues as to what his guard was doing. He heard the rattling of some equipment and looked again at Natasha for some sign of what was going on. She just shook her head in disbelief.

He didn't want to ask but what choice did he have, he could either be completely in the dark as to what was going on or he could ask and at least know what was coming. "What are you doing?" He asked in his most defiant tone.

The guard said nothing though Clint suspected he smirked.

"Nat?" He questioned desperately wanting to know what was coming.

"They're going to-" she was cut off by her guard delivering an upper cut to her stomach.

"Let it be a little surprise to him" her guard grinned. "Tell us your names and we will stop"

"Nat, no. Don't" Clint said immediately

Natasha looked at him filled with worry.

Clint felt something being fitted onto his head. Suddenly his heart started pumping, what were they going to do to him?

"Remember me" Natasha said before Clint felt a sharp blinding pain in his head.


	6. Chapter 6

**MU HA HA HA HA!**

Pain unlike anything he had endured before. Like someone had poured white how metal into his skull. Clint felt like he was going to explode.  
'Remember me' the words echoed round in his head for a while and then they were nonexistent. He could feel all his thoughts, memories and personality being sucked into a small box. No! NO! He had to hold onto some old element of himself. Had to remember... 'Remember me...' Clint felt himself cry out once in a last attempt to fight the impossible force attempting to control his mind. 'Remember me'...  
And suddenly he was no longer Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye. He was Bruce Malour, sent by HYDRA, the good guys, to kill Natasha, one of the bad guys working for SHIELD.

_

When he woke again he found himself lying on his back. Bruce kept his eyes closed for a minute, sensing something above him not knowing if it was dangerous or not. He felt a cool palm on his cheek and a hand on his forehead.

Bruce opened his eyes slowly and focused on the person above him. A woman with vibrant red hair came into focus, Bruce recalled seeing her once before but he couldn't place it...

Them he remembered, Natasha, the person he was meant to kill.

Bruce jumped back quickly getting onto his feet. Natasha looked shocked and Bruce could see her eyes were slightly red as of she had been crying.

She opened her mouth to say some thing but corrected Herself and said "Hawkeye!"

Hawkeye? Who or what was that? "What?" He said, voice full of hatred for the woman in front of him, she was a known criminal and her attempts to manipulate him would not work!

"Who did they make you?" Natasha ignored his question and persisted with her own. "Who are you?"

Bruce saw that she made no attempt to get up. She had a broken leg by the looks of it and there was something wrong with her arm.

Surely Bruce didn't do that. He went in, got the job done and went out. He didn't torture his targets...

"Who are you?" Natasha repeated.

"I am Bruce Malour." He replied coldly.

"Why are you here?" She asked the question without fear and as if she already knew the answer but was just trying to get information.

"I am here to kill Natasha, I am here to kill you." He wasn't sure why he was telling her this but, he supposed, she was a dead woman walking.

Get the job done, Bruce told himself, get it done.

Bruce suddenly leapt forward and pinned Natasha to the ground. She hit the ground hard, hitting her head off the concrete floor and crying out because Bruce had landed on her arm.

It was strange, he thought, Natasha didn't make any move to defend herself. But he dismissed the thought quickly. And placed his hands on her throat.

"Wait!" She cried out as his grip got tighter. Bruce paused, for some reason he wanted to hear what she had to say. "You aren't Bruce."

"You will not manipulate me." He replied, venom in his voice.

"Wait, hear me out." She shot back without fear.

Bruce said nothing.

"You are not Bruce Malour. You are someone else. You have been brainwashed." She explained

"If I am someone else then what's my name?" He asked, not fooled by the witch in front of him.

"I can't say it." She considered for a moment. "You and I were on a mission together. We were sent to shut down a branch of HYDRA but-"

"Liar." Bruce spat "I work for HYDRA. You work for SHIELD. You are a known criminal."

"Wait. Just hear my side of the story." She said it without fear, like she thought she wasn't going to die. "We were captured. Who do you think broke my leg? Who do you think skinned my arm?" She didn't wait for an answer, "they did this to me and then they brainwashed you. Why do you think we are both locked in here? Try the door, they want you to kill me, they have us both locked in, your a prisoner as much as I am."

Bruce didn't trust her, if her story was true, why wouldn't she tell him his name. "If that is true, why won't you tell me my real name?" He challenged.

"HYDRA want our names. They want our real names but with that information they could put us out of action." She replied almost pleading for him to believe her. But he wasn't fooled.

"What's my name?" He asked again.

"I can tell you! This is what they want" she said struggling under Bruce's tightening grip.

"What's my name?!" He almost shouted, squeezing ever tighter on her neck.

"I can't..." She was running out of breath.

"Name!" Bruce, for some reason needed to know.

"Cl- Clint!" She stuttered with the last ounce of oxygen she had left.

Bruce suddenly let go of her. Something was not right...  
But... but he was Bruce Malour...

Natasha sucked in air gratefully still lying on the floor.

The name... That name... Bruce didn't know what to think, that name... Clint... Why did it seem so familiar?

"What's my last name?" He asked without looking at her.

"Clint..." She spoke the words as if they hurt. As if the person who owned that name had drifted away, had been lost. "I can't... They already know too much."

"But-" he was Bruce

"Clint... I can't tell you but please, listen to me. You have to remember. Remember me..."  
But Bruce didn't hear any more. Just the words 'remember me'.

Remember me.  
Remember me.  
Remember me...

Bruce's eyes flew open and the blinding pain was back in his head. He backed up to the wall, clutching his temples. He crouched down onto his honkers and cried out from the pain.

Suddenly Natasha was beside him trying to keep him from passing out with the pain.

He was Bruce...  
No NO! He was Clint! Clint... What was his second name? Clint...

And like a key fitted into a lock. He suddenly remembered.

Budapest  
Natasha  
Loki  
The battle of New York  
Their HYDRA mission  
Captured  
Tortured  
Brainwashed.

'Remember me'

Clint gasped taking large gulps of air. He was Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye.  
An agent of SHIELD


	7. Chapter 7

**I feel so sorry for Clint! :-( :-)**

"Natasha." Clint breathed and turned his head to look at her.

Natasha smiled at him, tears brining in her eyes. She blinked them away, obviously not wanting to cry. "Clint." She said the name as if grateful for the privilege. They both hugged for a brief moment.

When they broke apart Clint sat with his back up against the wall with the window and Natasha sitting opposite him, still cradling her arm and laying her broken leg out in front of her.

Clint recalled having his hands round Natasha's throat and hastily said "I'm sorry, Nat."

"What for?" She asked.

"I tried to kill you." He said, emphasising the word kill.

"But that wasn't you, Clint." She pointed out, "not the real you. Your real personality was shut up somewhere."

"Still... I should have listened to you without you having to tell me my name." He sighed, "and now they know"

"Yeah... But those names aren't really of any value until they know out surnames." She pointed out again.

Clint simply fell silent. He knew there was no chance of them using their names unless they had their surnames. That was their only plus, the only thing he could use to get them out of here, it wasn't much, in fact it was probably the smallest advantage possible but at least it was something.

Clint heard Natasha manoeuvre herself so they were both sitting up against the wall, side by side. He felt sorry for Nat, having a broken leg practically immobilised her and she was no longer very practical in combat. He wondered if he could help her in any way. He couldn't do anything with her arm but her leg...

Clint had his first good look at Natasha's leg. Her Black Widow uniform was blocking view of her skin but Clint could see an obvious bone sticking out at an odd angle to her skin. "Nat?" She looked over at him "we need to set your leg."

"Are you sure you can? I mean you have just been brainwashed." She asked.

True Clint did feel a little dizzy and his head was throbbing but he was alright... "I'm fine." He replied, "but your leg..." He indicated to it.

She looked for a moment and sighed quietly. "Okay."

Clint nodded and moved round to face Natasha and her outstretched leg. He analysed it again, it was broken in two places and would really hurt to set. "You ready?" He asked

"As I'll ever be." Natasha replied and visibly prepared for the pain.

Clint looked down to her leg and worked out the best and most pain free way to do it. Clint glanced up at Natasha one last time before placing a hand gently on her ankle and the other where the bone was protruding from her skin. When he touched the bone he heard a small intake of breath from Natasha. Clint paused letting her regain composure and then continued with setting the bone.  
He pulled gently on her ankle and pushed the bone back into place. He heard a small cry persist from Natasha's lips but he continued until the first break was completely set.

After it was set he looked up, concerned, at Natasha.

When seeing his concern she said "keep going I'm fine"

Clint wasn't completely convinced that she was fine but positioned himself to set the other break anyway.

After a few more moments, Natasha's leg looked at least a little better.

"Thanks." she said.

"It's fine." He replied and moved back against the wall.

Sometime after that Natasha fell asleep and Clint found her head resting on his shoulder as it was last night.  
It was strange, Clint thought, they actually had no way of telling if it was night or day, the cell had no windows except for the one giving them the view into the next cell. He was just assuming that when they slept, it was night.

Clint looked down at Natasha, she looked more peaceful tonight, He supposed it was because her leg was in the correct place, he concluded.

Clint closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. Sleep didn't come. Every time he closed his eyes he was reminded of the blinding pain of brainwashing. He wondered if this was how Natasha felt when she used to Wouk for the Red Room, brainwashed into doing things she didn't want to do.

He was two people, both Bruce and Clint, only one person being his true self. But Bruce's personality would still be programmed into some distant part of his mind.

Eventually though, Clint gave into sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Unknown to Clint or Natasha, after they both fell asleep, a guard crept into the room and sedated Natasha.

Clint wasn't sure how it happened but by some sort of primary instinct, he woke up just as the cloth was placed over his mouth. Again Clint found himself holding his breath, he struggled and this time, being unchained, he kicked his way away from the guard, going into a fight stance.

The guard quickly said something in German into an ear piece and two other guards came in and pointed guns at Natasha's limp figure. There was no way they would miss if he went to attack them.

"Kneel down and put your hands on your head." This guard had a heavy German accent and spoke in a deep voice.

Clint stood for a moment, still in a fighting stance, concise ring his options. He could attack them and Natasha would most likely get shot, or, he could give himself up and submit himself to the next round of torture they threw at him.

He didn't think he would survive losing Natasha, so, reluctantly Clint placed his hands above his head and knelt down. The guard with the deep voice moved forward and placed the cloth over Clint's mouth.

There was no point in fighting the sedation, if he did they would just threaten Natasha again. So Clint took a deep breath, welcoming the dark sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**I AM SOOOOOO EVIL! ENJOY!**

Slowly becoming aware of his surroundings, Clint dragged himself out of sleep. He found he was in a large room filled with tables and chairs.

He tried to move but found he was chained up again.  
His hands had shackles encasing them and a long chain circled his abdomen, pulled tight.

He noticed that he was chained to a large pillar. His arms chained at either side of the pillar and the chain at his abdomen seemed to go right around it in a complete loop.

The room was bright but had no windows in it and food was scattered all over the floor.

Clint felt his stomach rumble under the tight grip of the chain and it occurred to him what he hadn't eaten or drank anything in what he perceived as two days.

Natasha? Where was Natasha?

"Nat?" He called out into the bright room.

"She is not here." Said a guard behind Clint. Clint couldn't see him because his view was limited by the pillar and the tight chains that bound him to it.

"Where is she?" He said defiantly, trying to twist around so he could see the guard, but the chains were cutting into him and Clint felt warm blood trickle down his abdomen.

"Not here" the guard said again.

"Thanks for being so specific, it really helps." If Natasha wasn't here, he could be a bit more cheeky with the guards and not risk her getting hurt.

"I would watch your mouth," the guards voice said. "You can still earn her pain no matter how far away you are."

Clint suddenly wasn't so convinced that Natasha was else where, something in the tone he used.

Clint heard the guards footsteps receding as a door creaked open. "Your in the lunch hall," the guard said stopping halfway through the door, "and we tend to bring our weapons to lunch."

Brilliant, Clint thought, now he was going to be target practice. At least Natasha wasn't here, or so the guard had said.

"Nat?" Clint called out again, just to be sure. There was no reply. He was alone.

He had to find a way out, had to find Natasha. At the rate things were going, they wouldn't survive very much longer.

He had no materials suitable for picking a lock and the chain around his abdomen was too tight to slip under.

Great plan! He thought to himself sarcastically.

Clint spent the next while trying to think of a way out, eventually his thoughts veered away from escaping and towards what had happened to Natasha.

_

Time passed and Clint found himself lost in thought, when the doors to the lunch hall opened behind him and were flooded by hundreds of guards. Clint looked up from where he had been staring at his legs and straightened up a bit. He had to look strong and confident in front of his enemies.

Wow, Clint thought, how many people do HYDRA employ?

The guards all carried some sort of weapon or another. From small pistols to machine guns, from whips to ninja stars. Every weapon he could think of was packed into this room.

The guards walking past him sneered and taunted, laughing at how weak and restrained the great Hawkeye had become.

It would be funny to see one of them trip.

Actually, that's not a bad idea, he thought.

Clint waited for a group of guards to walk past before sticking his leg out and tripping a particularly big guard up.

The guard fell flat and got up again seething. Clint merely smirked amused at making the guard fall.

HYDRA tend not to employ very bright people. He concluded in his head

But before Clint knew it, a fist was flying towards his temple. A blow like that could knock you out cold or even kill you, if enough force was applied, so Clint had the sense to lean forward so the blow missed his temple but hit the back of his head.

Clint was stunned by the sudden knock to his head but looked back up at the guard still smirking.

The guard was shaking with rage now and drew his pistol. Wait, Clint thought suddenly on full alert, is he gonna shoot me?

The guard took aim.

No, no. He couldn't die. He still had Natasha to think about. There was no way she could escape with a broken leg.

As if in slow motion Clint saw the guard beginning to tighten his finger around the trigger.

Clint expertly kept the panic he was feeling, concealed and faced the gun proudly. But he was freaking out inside.

He couldn't... die. He had to stay. For Natasha. No... Don't shoot don't shoot... Clint was practically begging in his mind but still showing no outward sign of fear.

"STOP!" Both Clint and the guard heard the loud exclamation.

Clint's first reaction was relief but the guard had flinched at the sound of the shout and pulled the trigger.

But then Clint felt the pain of the shot. The pain radiated from his left shoulder, thankfully the shout had thrown off the guards aim and the shot hit his shoulder.

At the sound of the gun the whole hall had fallen silent. Clint vaguely heard the guard who had shot him and, who Clint assumed was, the leader of this HYDRA branch talking in raised tones. But he wasn't concentrated on that. His shoulder was his main concern.

He had shut his eyes tight to try and control the pain but he forced them open again to assess the wound.

When he looked, the first thing he saw was blood. It was pouring out of him like a tap turned on too high.

He had to stop the blood flow. But he was still chained up and his hands wrapping around the pillar was stretching the wound.

Was he really going to die? Bleed out in a dirty food hall, with out seeing Natasha ever again and probably getting her killed in the process.

Clint struggled against his bonds trying to get his right hand free so he could try and stop the blood flow.

"Clint?!" Immediately Clint stopped struggling. Was that Natasha?  
But... she wasn't here... She was somewhere else...

"Nat?" He called out to her, ignoring the pain on his shoulder.

None of the guards were paying any attention to them. They were all focused on the fight between the guard with the gun and the leader of HYDRA.

"Clint! Are you alright?" Her voice was urgent and full of worry.

"I'm fine, don't worry." He lied.

"What happened?" She said obviously not convinced of Clint's act. "I heard a shot."

"Shoulder wound." He said quickly not wanting to make her worry. "Listen-"

"Shoulder?" She exclaimed. "Clint how much is it bleeding?"

"... Natasha, don't worry..." He said considering every word. "There's nothing we can do. We are both chained here."

Natasha spoke quickly, "and what? You expect me to just sit here while you bleed out?"

Clint didn't have an answer for that.

"We have to get help or... something." She said, not giving up.

That was the Natasha he knew, determined to her last breath.

"From who?" Clint asked, still in pain from the lead bullet shifting around inside him.

Natasha fell silent. She must be chained the same way as him, with her arms stretching round the pillar, because Clint felt a hand groping around for his. He took it and held onto her tight. She returned the pressure on his.

The blood was still pouring out of his shoulder and a puddle was forming on the ground, it would take a while for Clint to bleed out.

He would die slowly. There was no point lying to himself. None of the guards would help him, he and Natasha were chained to the point where they were hardly able to move.

Eventually the guard and the leader came to an agreement of some sort, Clint wasn't sure what it was because they were talking in German and his head was starting to get dizzy from blood loss. The guards started filing out of the room.

Last to walk out was the leader. Natasha must have been getting very concerned because Clint heard her call out to him in German:  
"hey! während Ihr Idioten Wache zu verwirren, Clint erschossen. er braucht Hilfe."

Clint vaguely heard them talking but he was being distracted by the growing pain in his shoulder. He had to stay focused, stay awake, stay awake, he told himself over and over.

Clint shut his eyes tight and put his head against the pillar. Natasha was still holding onto his hand, not wanting to let him go.

He could feel himself slipping... "Nat?" He called out to her.

He wasn't going to give up just yet, he would hold on until he could no longer. But his strength was ebbing away, pooling on the floor. Soon he wouldn't have the strength to talk so he needed this moment with Natasha.

"Clint. Hold on" she said softly, "we're going to get you patched up."

"Natasha..." He trailed off as a man, Clint recognised as the leader, crouched down beside him with a bandage.

None too gently, the leader started wrapping the bandage around his shoulder, tightly so it would stop most of the bleeding.

"Natasha, you didn't have to..." He breathed, running out of strength rapidly.

"Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint." She warned, concern still laced into her tone. "Don't think that lowly of yourself."

Clint smiled, squeezing her hand lightly.

Clint grimaced as the man in front of him pulled the knot tight. He then got up and walked out of the room.

Every so often Clint would feel Natasha squeeze his hand to make sure he was still there. Clint would then return the pressure on hers.

The bandage wasn't very effective in stoping the blood flow but it slowed it down, if they were kept in the hall like this, he would still bleed out but it would be slower. He would live longer but that also meant the pain would continue to get worse.

Pain. It was such a small word, it was too small to describe the amount of pain Clint was feeling. It radiated out of him, causing waves of agony. But he had to hold on. He had to always be there for Natasha.

After about 10 minutes of silence, Clint heard a door creek open. Natasha's hand tightened oh his.

"Natasha? What is it?..." Clint asked weakly, strength still ebbing slowly away from him.

"Clint!-" she was cut off and Clint heard a few seconds of struggling before Natasha fell silent, her hand slipping from his grasp.

"Natasha!" Clint called out, suddenly alert. What had happened to her? He was answered by a cloth, being placed over his mouth.


	10. Chapter 10

**CLINTASHA ACTIVATE! this chapter is so cute!**

There was a weight on his chest, a soft crying voice and a strange hissing noise in the background, Clint slowly emerged from sedation and groaned, the pain in his right shoulder was refusing to subside.

His chest rose and fell slowly, with hardly any strength left.

Clint slowly became more aware of his surroundings. Natasha was lying on his chest, as if shielding him, and was quietly sobbing.

Clint took a deep shaky breath, allowing oxygen to fill his lungs.

Suddenly the crying stopped, "Clint?" She said the name as if had belonged to something she had lost a long time ago.

Clint tried to open his eyes but they slipped shut again. "Clint?" She repeated, life fluttering back into her tone. "Hold on, Clint, hold on."

She took hold of the bandage and tore it off with her good arm. "Hold on... Just hold on..." He could hear her murmuring.

'I will' he wanted to reply, but he didn't have the energy to move his lips. He only had the energy to react to the pain, grimacing, even though he tried to conceal it. And what was that hissing?

She had to get the bullet out first. Both she and Clint were trained first aiders and had, had plenty of practice with it, but where Natasha had been calm on other missions, where others had gotten hurt, she wasn't calm now. She seemed flustered, desperate even.

After a few minutes of poorly concealed agony, Clint heard the faint clatter of the bullet from when Natasha had thrown it away disgusted, but for some reason he could deal with this pain easier. He knew Natasha wasn't hurting him on purpose and somehow that made it not hurt as much.

Clint heard something tear and felt it being pressed onto his wound. He groaned in pain and heard an apology from Natasha who was now tying the new 'bandage' onto the wound, properly this time, sealing it so that no more blood would escape.

Natasha say back for a moment to assess whether the bandage was sealed properly.

Clint felt something wet fall onto his hand and assumed tears were still silently falling from Natasha's eyes.

Clint suddenly felt cold. Icy chills were sent down into his bones. He shivered. "Clint?" Natasha's tone was worried as he shivered again.

Clint heard her moving over to his other side so that she was at the opposite side to his injured shoulder. She placed a warm hand on his forehead. His body was heating up now, ferocious heat was pulsing through his body.

Great, he thought, now I've got a fever.

"Clint, your burning up." Natasha's voice was laced with worry and a touch of fear.

Clint wished he had the strength to move, had the strength to talk. Something, so Natasha would know he was listening and that she was not just talking to nobody.

There was nothing you could really do with a fever but endure it. They both knew this so Natasha sat back and sighed, wiping tears away from her face.

Clint felt her head rest on his good shoulder as she cuddled up to his feverish body, placing a hand on his chest. He wished he could put his arm around her but he was still too weak to move and so he just let him self relax, well he relaxed as much as was possible with a shot in his shoulder, a raging fever and a soft hissing that wasn't going away.

They stayed like that for a while, Natasha whispering soft, and what he thought to be Russian, words in his ear, Clint listening all the while even though he didn't understand.


	11. Chapter 11

**the end is nigh! 4 more chapters (not including this one!) ENJOY!**

it took a few, what he perceived to be, days for Clint to regain most if his strength, constantly wondering the source of the hissing. Natasha nursing him back to health with the little scraps the guards occasionally threw them. Natasha still ate her fair share of the food, Clint made sure of that. He had asked her about the noise and des covered she could hear it too, well he wasn't crazy at least, but neither of them knew the source or the reason of it being there

The affects of the fever had all but worn off and his shoulder wasn't bleeding any more. It still hurt but he wasn't losing any more blood which, at this time, was a bonus.

They were left in the cell for a while, Clint would have thought they would have continued tormenting them but HYDRA left them alone for a while at least. Clint would have assumed that HYDRA had forgotten about them if it weren't for the scraps they were thrown.

Clint sat, now, with his back up against the wall, mulling over some tho writes about the hissing, sitting up against the wall opposite him was Natasha. They both had been silent for a while, it was a peaceful silence, he was so grateful for Natasha's help over the last few days. He doubted he would have survived if she weren't here.

He wanted to ask her something. Something he had been wandering over the past while. He was considering voicing his question when Natasha spoke: "okay, you want to ask something" Clint looked up at her and smiled, she could read him like a book.

She smiled back. It occurred to him that she didn't seem to smile often.

"Yeah." He said, "before I woke up, when you thought" he paused for a nearly unnoticeable fraction of a second, "I was dead... You seemed pretty upset." Clint looked into Natasha's eyes, she wasn't looking at him but somewhere distant, like she was replaying the memory in her head.

After a few minutes of silence she replied, "I thought I had lost you..." Her voice was barely a whisper, "I thought..." She trailed off but Clint didn't need to hear any more, he already knew.

She sat with her still broken leg laid out in front of her and her other leg drawn up to her chest, hugging it tightly to her. Se was staring down at her feet.  
She looks lonely, Clint concluded and got up. Then fell down again. His legs had collapsed under neath him, they still couldn't support all his weight. He sighed to himself and resorted to crawling to her.

He crashed down ungracefully beside her. When he had settled himself she laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She wasn't asleep, just closing her eyes.

"Clint?" She got his attention quickly, "stay here." She requested.

"Okay." He replied simply, putting his arm around her, avoiding the skinned part of her arm.

"Nat?" She opened her eyes and looked up at him. After he told her this she would probably tell at him but he had to, "if the worst should happen...-"

"No," she cut him off, "don't talk like that."

"I'm just saying, if it comes to that, you can't give up. You gotta let yourself get better then you blast out."

Natasha was staring at a spot on the wall, straight faced. "You too." She said simply. Clint nodded even though he knew it was unlikely he would break out and just abandon Natasha, even if she had been reduced to a corpse. "But that's not going to happen." She said confidently and Clint nodded again.

They sat there for a while side by side, Clint having drawn back his arm, when the hissing, that had constantly been in the background, stopped.

"What the...?" Clint wondered out loud.

He got up slowly, steadily trying to get his legs used to the weight. Eventually he was able to step away from the support of the wall.

Behind him he heard Natasha curse under her breath, Clint turned around to her. "What?" He asked curious.

"I think we are in an air chamber." She stated. "And they've just turned off the oxygen supply."

Brilliant! He cursed in his head. "Well, we can never say they don't find new methods to sedate us." He joked, Natasha didn't laugh but he hadn't expected her to.

Clint twisted around where he was standing and tried to find any cracks or seams in the wall, that he could widen to gain air from, but there was none. There had to be a way out.

"Clint." There had to be, nothing was this fool proof, nothing.

"Clint," Natasha repeated. "HYDRA are consistent, they don't cut corners"

Clint lowered his head. He was already beginning to feel the affects of lack of oxygen.

Clint backed up against the wall and slowly sat down again, beside Natasha, resting his head on the wall.

They both sat there silent and eventually the oxygen ran out and they were both consumed in darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

**turns out I had posted chapter 11 twice so here it is again!**

Clint felt himself being lifted back into consciousness. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, not wanting to give away the fact that he was awake. He heard ragged breathing in front of him and instantly remembered the breathing pattern.

"Natasha?" He croaked, throat raw from the recent lack of oxygen, and opened his eyes. Natasha sat in front of him chained to a chair, still unconscious. "Natasha!" Clint tried to move towards her but found that he was chained up to the wall, arms and legs splayed wide almost like a starfish. He was completely helpless.

"Natasha." Clint hissed, trying to avoid the attention of the guards who were probably posted outside. "Natasha."

Oh come on, he thought, wake up! He urged her in his head.

Clint heard a small click and cursed under his breath before looking up and glaring straight into the eyes of the guard who came in. Only he wasn't a guard, he wasn't even a he but a tall slender woman in a tight fitting dark suit with weapons and torture elements hanging off a black belt. Her eyes were shaded by dark makeup and her lips were red as blood, she looked beautiful but that couldn't be good. Why was she here? Who was she?

"Who are you?" Clint growled, masking his wariness expertly.

The woman walked over to Natasha and smiled looking up at Clint.

"My name is Marzia", the women purred seductively in a heavy Russian accent, leaning over the chair before making her way around.

"Who are you?" He repeated trying not to sound I intimidated by her as she slowly walked towards him

"HYDRAs previous attempts to..." Marzia paused for a moment as if considering what she was going to say "persuade you to give us your names, were unfruitful."

She was directly if front of Clint now, grinning manipulatively, she looked dazzlingly beautiful, Clint noted, despite the grim grittiness of the cell around them.

"HYDRA hired me to get you to talk" Marzia's eyes lit up with a fiery glow as she leaned foreword to whisper in his ear, "and believe me, I will do my upmost to follow through."

She stepped back from Clint and smiled, turning away from him and taking something out of a pocket in a way that ensured he couldn't see.  
He heard the scraping of a lid being removed from a bottle.

Then there was silence.

Suddenly Marzia whipped around and jabbed something in his neck. Clint cried out as the syringe secreted it's contents. The liquid felt hot, scorching hot like hundreds of tiny white hot needles were stabbing at his neck.

"Do you like it?" Marzia asked a grin snaking it's way across her lips, "it's a truth serum of my own invention. Soon I will know not only your names, but all of SHIELDs dirty little secrets too"

The pain flowing through his blood was blinding and Clint found himself shutting his eyes tight and turning his head away from where the syringe was still sticking into his neck.

"Now," Marzia continued in a sort of lazy tone, "what are your names?"

Clint didn't speak, refusing to comply with her, but he was now gasping from the searing liquid pumping through his veins.

He vaguely felt a hand grasping his jaw and turning his head to face forward. Clint forced his eyes open to glare at her hatefully but she only regarded him thoughtfully and with a little amusement.

She smiled sadistically, "good" she said, "cooperation would have been boring. Now I get to have my fun!" Marzia swiftly turned around to face Natasha still unconscious tied to the chair, head drooping slightly.

Natasha looked so innocent, so vulnerable, tied up. She was beautiful, Clint realised suddenly through his pain mangled vision. He dismissed the thought none the less, emotional attachment was dangerous and could get them both killed.

Marzia strolled over to Natasha's side and looked up at Clint as she drew a long sharp knife from her belt. Clint watched helplessly as Marzia placed the knife, blade flat, on Natasha's skinned arm.

Clint was abruptly aware that he was struggling madly in his shackles. He wanted to call out to Natasha, wanted to throw any swear and curse he could think of at Marzia but if he said anything, the truth serum would take over and he would spill everything.

No! NO! Stop it you-, Clint thoughts were cut off by a shrill cry from the suddenly, very much conscious, Natasha.

Marzia had pressed the flat blade down on Natasha's arm and blood was beginning to flow down Natasha's arm.

Why was Natasha reacting so... severely?

As if in answer to his question, "poison blade" she grinned, pressing harder on the blade, drawing more cries from Natasha.

Natasha!... Clint paused his thoughts for a moment, Natasha Romi- no NO! Don't even think it.

He wasn't going to surrender to Marzia. He had to keep fighting, if not for himself then for Natasha. Natasha Ro- SHUT UP!

Before Clint realised what was happening Marzia had filled her wrist and the poison blade sliced through the remainder of Natasha's skin.

Natasha screamed and tried to pull away from the blade but the chains held her helpless.

Clint wanted so badly to call out to her, to let her know he was there, to offer at least some comfort, even offer himself in the place of Natasha. He had even taken a breath to say something, anything but he stopped himself, no, he wasn't playing her game.

Adrenaline was now mixing with the truth serum still searing through his veins. He had to stop this, Natasha didn't deserve to have to go through with this.

Clint closed his eyes, breathing heavily, to try to clear his head. But it wouldn't work, there were room many thoughts pouring into his head, thoughts that he couldn't put a voice to.

"Just tell me your names and it will all stop" Marzia cooed.

Clint tried to concentrate but Marzia's words echo around in his head. He could turn them both in and surrender to all HYDRAs terms or he could stay silent and watch Natasha slowly die. And if Natasha's death didn't kill him on it's own then HYDRA would turn to torturing him and eventually kill him.

Telling was the easy option. Staying silent would bring only pain and eventually death. He could...  
No! He wasn't giving in. He would fight till his last breath.


	13. Chapter 13

**MASSIVE CLIF HANGER WARNING! :-) **

After a while Marzia stopped and Clint heard Natasha's ragged breathing in front of him. He had closed his eyes a while back, unable to watch and keep silent.

Clint slowly opened his eyes and met with the view of Natasha sitting with her head bowed, breathing heavily and with bright red blood streaming from her arm which had fresh bits of skin hanging off of it.

Natasha slowly raised her head, "Clint?" Oh, no. No, no, no! Don't say that! Clint felt something rip inside him. He had to tell her something, comfort her. But he couldn't. Couldn't let everything spill. He wouldn't let everything spill.

"Clint?" She repeated. No, no! Stop! Clint tied to tell her that he couldn't speak by mere body language. He wasn't sure if it worked but Natasha stopped repeating his name which was a bonus for the moment.

"Aww. How sweet." Marzia chimed in kicking herself off the wall she was leaning against.

Oh shut up! Clint thought, he was just about fed up with Marzia. What was she going to do now!

"It's a pity," Marzia continued, "such a pity that we must waste such a love."

Clint glowered at Marzia, practically radiating hate. He was really ready to kill her.

But in the end it was Natasha that spoke, "love is for children." She state plainly.

Clint hardly even noticed when a little part of him died right there. So many parts of him had died throughout this life, he almost didn't notice it now. But he noticed this time, Natasha was part of the reason he was still sane, how could she have just said that?

And just for a second Clint's resilience flickered.

Like a viper, Marzia struck at this sign of weakness, "what are your names?" She asked excitedly.

No no no no! NOOO! Don't sa- "Clint Barton and Natasha Rominoff."

Clint mentally fave palmed himself, how could he be so stupid! Why did he let his resilience crack!  
He tried to put up mental walls again but the flood was beginning and Marzia was going to take advantage of it.

"Lovely" she purred.

"Clint!?" Natasha called out weakly and in disbelief. Clint couldn't blame her, he was weak. He bowed his head and closed his eyes, he was sick of this, sick of his life.

Clint tried to map out Marzia's next move, she most likely would find out some information for herself.

"Now... Tell me." Marzia continued, "where are the Russian bases for SHIELD?"

No NO! Okay don't be specific, give her as little information as possible "two north, one South and one east and west."

He wasn't lying but he wasn't giving her what she wanted either, he could play this game but he had given away too much already. No more.

Marzia was suddenly in front of him and she lashed out striking Clint on the cheek. He felt warm blood trickle down his cheek from where she had just scarred him.

"Don't be smart with me." She warned coldly.

"Why not?" He asked childishly.

"Because it's not just you I will harm." She stated, "now, tell me the addresses of the SHIELD bases in Russia."

"12 Kooperativnaya ulitsa, Monino, Russia" Clint said reluctantly and through gritted teeth.

He continued to list off all the SHIELD bases slowly, hoping some miracle would crop up.

When he had finished listing them off Marzia grinned and had gotten half way through her next question when Clint felt a soft tremble.

Clint glanced up at Natasha who was staring at him in disbelief.

The room shuddered once more, confirming their suspicions. Earthquake.


	14. Chapter 14

**seriously guys don't kill me! TWIST ENDING!**

Cracks began forming in the walls, he started struggling trying to get free. Chunks of the ceiling started falling and he struggled even more, he had to get free or-

His thought were cut off by a scream that ended abruptly. A massacre chunk of the ceiling had fallen and crushed Marzia.

Good riddance he thought in between yanks on his chains.

One of the shackles burst free from the wall, it was still attached to his have but he'd work on that later. Clint yanked free his other three limbs and hurried over to Natasha as the room crumbled around them.

"Hold on." He instructed, working on the chains that tied her to the chair.

"Clint." Natasha said gently. He ignored her, "Clint, you have to go. You're not going to get out of here with me."

"I'm not leaving!" He said yanking off the chains around her arms.

"You have to." She was almost pleading with him now.

"No, I can't!" One of her legs were free. Not the other. He lifted her up putting her un-skinned arm around her shoulder.

A chunk of the ceiling fell and crushed the doorway, they limped out and were faced with a corridor.

Clint led Natasha to the right, almost dragging her along. They rounded a couple of corners and reached a large doorway, light pouring through it - the exit.

"C'mon!" Clint urged but massive chunks of concrete were falling all around them and Natasha knew what would come next.

"Clint," she called out to him, "Clint, I want you to know... I didn't mean what I said back there..."

"We'll make it..." He replied, keeping a steady pace towards the door.

Rubble was falling by the door, it would block it soon and they were still about 25 meters away from it.

Clint scooped her up in his arms and began sprinting to the door, determined to make it.

15 meters  
10  
5

Natasha heard a low rumble and looked up. A chunk of the ceiling was falling towards the door way. They would never make it!

Clint hugged her close, still running, "I love you." He whispered in her ear before throwing her out the door.


	15. Chapter 15

***bites lip* EEEEEEP! okay when you reach the end of this chapter tell me if you want me to add another chapter with the avengers finding out what happened! **

"CLINT!" Natasha called out, suddenly filled with panic. The bolder landed with a crash just as she made it outside.

"CLINT!" She repeated, no no no! NO this can't happen. "Clint..." Her voice trailed off as she began sobbing uncontrollably.

I love you too, she thought.

The earthquake stopped just as the HYDRA building collapsed but Natasha couldn't care less. Clint was...-

No he would pull through, this was one of his tricks. He would come round some rubble, laughing at how gullible she was, Clint couldn't die...

Natasha crawled over to the pile that used to be a massive building. She started moving the rubble aside desperately. She had to get to Clint.

_

After a few hours of hauling aside the rubble, Natasha hands were bleeding tirelessly but she kept going, she had to see Clint again. He wasn't dead until she saw him like that.

Natasha was still crying. She was surprised, she would have thought all the moisture in her body was spent bit the tears kept flowing.

Eventually she moved a rock aside and saw a small trickle of blood.

She could see Clint now. Through the rocks.

"No..." She whispered, throwing away more rubble exposing his head.

Natasha worked a bit longer, exposing his torso and eventually his whole body.

His uniform was torn and bloody, as was he. Natasha turned his head slightly and saw a definite dent at the back if his skull.

"No..." Natasha began sobbing again, she picked up his head gently, hugging it tightly to herself.

"I love you too..." She whispered. "I love you too."

_

Natasha wasn't sure how long passed as she cradled Clint's body but after about an hour or so she heard a helicopter.

She looked up, still holding Clint close, and saw the SHIELD insignia.

She turned back around and buried her face in Clint's shoulder, she should probably wipe away her tears, look strong but what was the point. She didn't care anymore.

Footsteps approached behind her and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Natasha." Coulson spoke to her softly, carefully.

"We aren't leaving him here." She spoke definitely. She wouldn't let them leave without Clint.

"Of course... Come on." Coulson let her pick Clint up and they both walked towards the quinjet.


End file.
